april 2017 bulletin of the new york mineralogical club€¦ · rockhounding trip in colorado with...

The BULLETIN

OF THE NEW YORK MINERALOGICAL CLUB, INC

America’s Oldest Gem & Mineral Club F o u n d e d 1 8 8 6 I n c o r p o r a t e d 1 9 3 7

CHARLES SNIDER

LARGE DIAMONDS

RUNNING OUT OF

ROCKS

MINERAL

NOMENCLATURE

TIDYING UP

TECH SAVVY

DIAMONDS

Tech Savvy Diamonds

See page 9!

Volume 131 No. 4

April 2017

Review: Spring 2017 NYCMineral, Gem & Jewelry Show

Bulletin of the New York Mineralogical ClubFounded 1886 Ë New York City, New York Ë Incorporated 1937

Volume 131, No. 4 America’s Oldest Mineral & Gem Club April 2017

April 19th Meeting:

Charles Snider: “TheAmerican Geode Story”The following important questions willbe answered at this talk:1. When did Charles Snider beginrockhounding and what was it likerockhounding by himself? How did heexplain to strangers why he was carryinga pickaxe, sledgehammer and other toolsout in public?

2. Charles’ favorite rockhounding spot isin Southern Indiana. How did one dearfriend’s addiction to drugs lead to Charles’finding a source of endless geodes?3. What is it like bringing back toManhattan a trunk full of geodes and howdoes one explain to the rental car companyhow the shocks and brake pads wereruined?4. What is it like selling geodes at a NewYork City flea markets and what kind offriends do you make while doing so?5. How did a work project introduceCharles and fellow club member JoeKrabak to one another and then lead to afriendship “grounded” in geodes androckhounding?

Charles Snider has been an avid gemand mineral collector as long as he canremember. His interests range from gems,minerals and fossils to antiques,Americana and folk art. His rockhoundingtrips range from Southern Indiana geodesto Herkimer Diamonds to a very specialrockhounding trip in Colorado withpartner in American Geode, fellow clubmember Joe Krabak.

Charles has a long history of hostingand presenting on television and radio ontopics spanning fine wine and spirits,celebrity interviews, and current events.During the day Charles’ career is in thefinancial markets, and he much prefers theweekends, no suit or tie, being out in thefield rockhounding.

By Mitch PortnoyThe Spring New York City Gem &

Mineral Show took place on March 4-5,2017 at the Watson Hotel (formerly HolidayInn Midtown Manhattan), its standardlocation. Here are some of the highlights:

In spite of the trulyfrigid weather that NYCexperienced over thisweekend, a large, bundledup crowd mobbed theshow on both days! Morespecifically, this was thethird consecutive MarchNYC show in whichattendance increased!

All of us noticed apreponderance of youngerpeople or families withchildren. We assume thatour strong presence on Social Media andthe Internet is having a beneficial effect onall aspects of the show.

The show was an acknowledgedcommercial success for all dealers. In fact,the worst reaction I heard was that they did“okay”; most said “good” or even “verygood”! It should come as no surprise thatevery dealer who is continuing to operate inthis type of venue has asked to return nextyear. And their overall happiness was surelyreflected in the wonderful donations theymade to the NYMC for our June BenefitAuction!

The experiment of placing a dealer onthe outside patio (American Geode),marginally expanding the dealer count, didnot work out. It was simply too cold to keepthe ballroom door open so the public couldexplore their booth. Alas!

In addition, there was an overbookingsnafu! However, Aurora Minerals, whichhas a huge space at the show,magnanimously agreed to consolidate theirwork area, allowing the “extra” dealer tosqueeze into this much-in-demand mineralshow.

Both of the lectures (Opal on Saturday,Popular Culture on Sunday) wereextremely well attended, SRO really! OnSaturday, instead of using a projector toshow the PowerPoint presentation, we

plugged directly into a wide-screentelevison. I found this alternate technology advantageous and we will likely continuingdoing this at our regular meetings.

NYMC booth activity was brisk. Weenrolled seven new members (5-10 per

show is average) but onlyhad two membershiprenewals (low?). On theother hand, in Novembermore that 20 membersrenewed; our overall2016/2017 renewal rate is94%! A special thanksagain to Tony Nikischerfor providing minerals toentice mineral enthusiaststo join the club!

We restocked thepopular gemstone floaty

pens for this show as well as all of theexotic gemstone books by R. Newman.New items that we offered for sale includedgemstone pencils, a mineral guidebook(by Schumann) and a new book aboutpearls (also by Newman). Sales were greatAND we will have all of this merchandisefor sale again at the November show.

I hope everyone had a nice experienceat this year’s Spring Show. Thanks toeveryone who volunteered his/her time tomake it, once again, a great success!

Issue Highlights

President’s Message . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Meeting Minutes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2World of Minerals:

S Super-Sized Diamonds . . . . . 3Running Out of Rocks . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Bizarre Xmas Gift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5GEM: The Visual Guide . . . . . . . . . . 5Mineral Nomenclature & Stamps . 6-7Star Trek Beyond Geology . . . . . . . . 8Topics in Gemology:

S Tech Savvy Diamonds . . . . . . 9Tidying Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Massive Metal Dragon . . . . . . . . . . 11Eating Gold? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Internet Scam to Beware! . . . . . . . . 13New York State Minerals . . . . . . . . 14Club & Show Calendars . . . . . . . . . 15

2 Bulletin of the New York Mineralogical Club, Inc. April 2017

President’s MessageBy Mitch Portnoy

For a few years now I have been“honoring” the topic of April Fool by placingrelevant mineral/gem/geology jokes andcartoons throughout the Club’s April Bulletin.I hope you enjoy them (or at least are not toooffended)!Special Benefit Sale Review

Thanks to an amazingly generous donationby member Nik Nikiforou (Globe Minerals),the Club had a Special Benefit Mineral Sale onSunday, February 12, 2017 at my apartment.

Although the weather was dreadful on thatday, 25 members came by to eagerly add someminerals to their collection. Jewelry donated bymember Arlene Joseph (Somethings) was alsoavailable.

Approximately $3,000 was raised from thissale. To give you a perspective on this amount:this will cover almost an entire year’s meetingroom fees for the Club!� Be aware we have about six remaining

containing wonderful minerals! Pleasecontact me if you would like to come overat your convenience and make someselections!

Club Membership UpdateNow that the Spring NYC Mineral Show

has come and gone, I can report our membershiprenewal rate from 2016 to 2017 was 94%.Indeed, our beginning of the year membershipcount is the highest it has been in at least twentyyears.Dealer Donations from the Show

Every dealer at the Spring 2017 Show gaveus a splendid donation for our June BenefitAuction. Items include minerals, gems,meteorites, jewelry, rough, books, fossils andscientific items. An itemized list of what eachdealer gave to us will appear in next month’sBulletin.September Speaker Still Needed

We still need a speaker for the September2017 meeting. If you have a suggestion or canrefer me to someone, please contact me as soonas possible!

Club Meeting Minutes forMarch 8, 2017By Vivien Gornitz, SecretaryAttendance: 42President Mitch Portnoy presidedAnnouncements:� New members were welcomed and the

monthly raffle held.� A brief recap of the February 2017 Club

Benefit Sale was given.� A longer discussion about the past

weekend’s NYC mineral show waspresented including attendance, sales, newmembers, lectures, dealers, etc.

� Mitch announced the upcoming addition ofa “President’s Album” into the archivespage on the website.

� The day’s historic events and specialassignations were presented.

� A comic song about field collecting set tothe music of the Beatles’ Penny Lane wassung.

� A comic video about falling through theEarth was played.

� A new game series, focusing on a mineral’sstreak color, was started withyellow/orange streak.

� The night’s new or special items for sale(meteorite note cards, gemstone pencils,etc.) were pointed out.

� The next few meetings’ lectures or eventswere presented.

Special Lecture: Steve Okulewicz:“Meteorites:

Our True Extraterrestrial Visitors”Some thousand to ten thousand tons of

space stuff bombard the Earth daily, accordingto Prof. Steve Okulewicz, Hofstra University,and popular Club speaker. Not to worry, the skyisn’t falling. Lucky for us, most Solar Systemdebris burns up in our atmosphere as meteors (or“shooting stars”). Larger pieces land on Earth asmeteorites. However, in the distant past, Stevepointed out, the Moon likely formed when aMars-sized object collided with the Earth, 30-50million years after the Solar System formed. Theleft-over debris coalesced into the Moon. Allrocky planets suffered an intense A heavymeteoritic bombardment around 3.8-3.9 billionyears ago left the Moon and all solid planetswith their moons pocked with craters.

On Earth, Meteor Crater, northern Arizona,was created a mere 49,000 years ago. A mucholder,—The much older 483-km diameterWilkes Land gravity anomaly—a probable fossilcrater--lies buried in East Antarctica under 1.6km of ice. It may date to 250 million years agoand the impact may have played a role in thePermian-Triassic extinction—the largestterrestrial mass mortality ever. (A much strongercase can be made for the impact that created theburied Chicxulub crater in the Yucatan 65million years ago, wiping out the dinosaurs andmany other life forms).

Steve distinguished “finds” (meteoritescollected long after they landed) from “falls”(those that were seen to fall). Most meteoritescome from the asteroid belt, a region betweenMars and Jupiter. Rare exceptions hail fromMars or the Moon. Meteorites fall into threemain groups: irons, stony, and stony-irons. Sometypes show evidence for differentiation of anasteroid parent body into a crust, mantle, andcore. Achondritic stony meteorites resemblecrustal basalt lava or more mafic rocks.Mineralogy and spectral characteristics tie someachondrites to the asteroid Vesta. The iron-nickel meteorites came from the core of a largeasteroid, whereas stony-irons formed at the core-mantle boundary. These consist of a mix ofolivine (Mg-rich peridot) and nickel-iron. Whenpolished, they make attractive specimens, oreven pieces for jewelry.

Chondrites, which constitute most falls,contain chondrules, or small spherules of olivineand pyroxene. The carbonaceous chondrites, arare sub-group, incorporate low temperature

organic matter—hydrocarbons, benzene-ringderivatives, and amino acids. They also enclosevery high temperature refractory inclusions—theCAIs, or calcium, aluminum inclusions. Thesemeteorites are truly “primitive”, i.e.,undifferentiated, with an elemental composition(other than H and He) like that of the Sun.

Iron meteorites consist of kamecite (Ni-poor)and taenite (Ni-rich) phases that unmixed as theycooled into the characteristic Widmanstättenpattern. Famous iron meteorites include the 34-ton Ahnighito and 15.5-ton Willemettemeteorites, both at the American Museum ofNatural history, the 70-ton Sikhote Alin fromSiberia, 66-ton Hoba in Namibia, and Campo deCielo, Argentina.

Unlike most other meteorites, the SNCs(Shergotty, Nakhla, Chassigny) are Martian.Significantly younger than other meteorites, theydisplay a gas isotope composition that matchesthat of the Martian atmosphere. Even rarer arelunar meteorites. Most are anorthosite-richbreccias, consisting of rock fragments from thelunar highlands.

On February 5, 2013, a fireball streakedacross the sky in Chelyabrisk, Russia, shatteringwindows and causing numerous injuries. Thiswell-recorded event set off a meteorite-huntingfrenzy that yielded an estimated 654 kg (1400 lbs)of a common type of chondrite. But a centuryago, in 1908, the mysterious Tunguska eventflattened trees over an 800 sq mi area, leaving nocrater, nor meteorite fragments. Was it a comet orsmall asteroid that exploded in the atmosphere?No one knows for sure.

As in previous talks, Steve Okulewiczconcluded with a dash of magic. Folding a pieceof paper into a shooting star or comet form, hetore it in two, to simulate break-up of a meteor.The larger pieces, when unfolded, yielded acircular hole—the crater; the smaller piece, astellar “ejecta”.

Members in the News� A brief overview of the history of the

NYMC (mostly based on websitematerials) appeared in the March 2017issue of the Rock Rustler’s News,bulletin of the Minnesota MineralClub!

� A model was wearing a necklacedesigned by Naomi Sarna on thecover of the February 2017 issue ofINSTORE.

Welcome New Members!Peter Alberts . . . . . . . . . . . . Brooklyn, NYDeborah Amat . . . . . . . . . . Brooklyn, NYKaren Cangelosi . . . . . . . . . . . . NYC, NYAlicia Goodwin . . . . . . . . . Brooklyn, NYMalcolm Guevara . . . . . . . . . . . NYC, NYSarah Keating . . . . . . . . . . Larchmont, NYAndrea Mason . . . . . . . . . . . . . NYC, NYWende Silver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . NYC, NYPhilip Tan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Brooklyn, NY

April 2017 Bulletin of the New York Mineralogical Club, Inc. 3

Examples of rough CLIPPIR diamonds from the Letseng mine in Lesotho. Credit: GIAcopyright, credit Robert Weldon and Gem Diamonds Ltd.

The World of MineralsThe World of Minerals is a monthly column written by Dr. Vivien Gornitz on timely and interesting topics relatedto geology, gemology, mineralogy, mineral history, etc.

Super-Sized DiamondsThe Cullinan diamond, weighing 3,106 carats when

discovered in 1905 near Kimberley, South Africa, remains thelargest diamond ever found. The two largest stones cut from itsparkle regally in the British Royal Scepter (550.2 ct) and Britishroyal crown (317.4 ct),respectively. Recently, anothersuper-sized diamond, said tobe the world’s second largest,was found in the KaroweMine, Botswana. Weighing,1,111 carats, it belongs to arare, pure diamond variety—at y p e I I a d i a m o n d ,characterized by an extremelylow nitrogen content. Bycontrast, N in Type Idiamonds, the most commontype in nature, often imparts anundesirable yellowish hue tothe stone. The same Botswanamine also yielded two otherweighty diamonds—an 813 ctstone (the 6th largest), a 374 ctstone, and 95 other diamonds 100 or more carats!

These exceptional diamonds share a number of uniquephysical characteristics that distinguish them from otherdiamonds. These properties show that they formed under quitedifferent geological circumstances. Named CLIPPIR diamonds,these special gemstones are large, chemically pure, inclusion-poor, irregularly-shaped, and show signs of dissolution oretching. The few inclusions they do contain reveal the story oftheir origins.

The most common inclusions are a magnetic, metallicmaterial identified as an assemblage of cohenite (Fe,Ni)3C, Fe-Ni, and pyrrhotite (Fe(1-x)S), with minor Fe-phosphate, Cr-Fe-oxides, and Fe oxides. Some of these minerals also occur inmeteorites. A thin fluid coating and traces of H2 surround mostinclusions. These inclusions are interpreted as remnants of a meltthat consisted of a mix of Fe-Ni-C-S, with minor dissolved H, P,Cr, and O.

Other inclusions are silicate minerals that formed under veryhigh pressures, such as Cr-poor majoritic garnet and Ca, Si-perovskite that has subsequently inverted to lower-pressureminerals. Taken together, these strands of evidence point togrowth in a highly reducing (oxygen-poor) environment at greatdepths (estimated at 410-660 km, 255-410 mi, within the mantletransition zone). Unlike most other diamonds, the CLIPPIRsgrew from a metallic melt containing dissolved methane andhydrogen. Most other diamonds, in sharp contrast, crystallize inthe upper mantle (150-200 km deep) from volatile-rich fluidscontaining CO2, H2O, and CH4 (methane). The metallic mineralsmay have scavenged any stray N, accounting for its lowconcentration in the pure, clear diamonds. Large liquid pocketsmay have provided ample space for the diamonds to grow tosuch large sizes under such intense mantle pressures.

CLIPPIR diamonds are also of great scientific interest,because they may shed light on deep-Earth processes. CLIPPIRsare enriched in the lighter 12C isotope relative to 13C. Anenrichment of 12C relative to the heavier 13C is characteristic ofbiogenic carbon and is also found in eclogitic diamonds.

Eclogites are upper mantlerocks composed of garnet andomphacite pyroxene. A majorhost rock of diamond, eclogitesprobably originated as oceanicbasalts that were subductedinto the mantle. Thus, the“light” carbon in thesediamonds suggest “recycling”of crustal carbon to greatdepths.

The metallic inclusions inthese diamonds also imply thatiron alloys may be widespreadw i t h i n a n o t h e r w i s epredominantly silicate mantle.Their presence would affectimportant physical propertiessuch as seismic velocity,

conduction of heat and electricity, and cycling of volatileelements (e.g., C, H). Super-sized diamonds, therefore, not onlyrepresent gemstones of great beauty and high monetary value,but also provide geologists with an important window intootherwise inaccessible portions of our planet.

Further ReadingJarrett, D., 2017. The Big One that Didn’t Get Away. Bulletin of the New

York Mineralogical Club, Jan. 2017. Vol. 131(1):9.Shirey, S. B., & Shigley, J. E., 2013. Recent advances in understanding

the geology of diamonds. Gems & Gemology, 49(4).


Geologists:“We May Be Slowly Running Out Of Rocks”

RALEIGH, NC—A coalition of geologists are challenging theway we look at global stone reserves, claiming that, unless smartermethods of preservation are developed, mankind will eventuallyrun out of rocks.

Geologists theorize that areas like this may have once beenfilled with rocks.

“If we do not stop using them up at our current rate, rocks aswe know them will be a thing of the past,” renowned geologistHenry Kaiser said at a pressconference Tuesday. “Igneous,metamorphic, even sedimentary:all of them could be gone in aslittle as 500,000 years.”

“Think about it,” Kaiseradded. “When was the last timeyou even saw a boulder?”

The scientists warned that,although people have longconsidered the world’s rocksupply to be inexhaustible, it hasnot created a significant numberof new rocks since the planetcooled some 3.5 billion years ago.Moreover, the earth’s rocks havebeen very slowly depleting in thelast century due to growingdemand for fireplace mantels,rock gardens, gravel, and paperweights.

Kaiser claims that humanity has “wreaked havoc” on theearth’s stones by picking them up, carrying them around, anddisplacing them from their natural habitat.

“A rock can take millions of years to form, but it only takes asecond for someone to skip a smooth pebble into a lake, and thenit is gone.” Dr. Kaiser said. “Perhaps these thoughtlessrock-skippers don’t care if they leave our planet completely devoidof rocks, but what about our children? Don’t they deserve thechance to hold a rock and toss it up and down a few times?”

Continued Kaiser, “We are on a collision course to a worldwithout rocks.”

Geologist Victoria Merrill, who has been at the forefront ofthe rock conservation battle since 2004, said there are simple stepspeople can take to reduce their rock consumption.

“Only take as many rocks as you absolutely need,” said Dr.Merrill, author of the book No Stone Unturned: Methods ForModern Rock Conservation. “And once you are finished with yourrocks, do not simply huck them into the woods. Place the rockdown gently where you found it so that others may look at the rockand enjoy it for years to come.”

Merrill went on to point out that, even if there were some“magic hole” in the earth’s crust that could miraculously spew outrocks every 10 years or so, modern society’s obsession with rocksmeans that we would still run out of them far more quickly thanthey could be replenished.

“Just look at the pet rock craze: In 10 years, millions uponmillions of rocks were painted, played with, and discarded liketrash,” Merrill said. “Looking back, mankind’s arrogance andhubris is startling.”

But critics of the movement have already begun to surface,claiming that Kaiser and his colleagues are simply preying onpeople’s fears of losing rocks.

While acknowledging that we should reduce our dependenceon foreign rocks, many have argued that the current rock supplycould easily last for the next 2 million years, by which timetechnology will have advanced enough to allow for the productionof endless quantities of cheap, durable basalt.

Others who oppose the rock-loss theory claim that rocks wereput on the earth to be used by humans in marble statues or kitchencountertops as they see fit.

“Take the Rocky Mountains, for example: There’s plenty ofrocks right there,” Colorado resident Kyle Peters said. “It’s ourright as Americans to use as many rocks as we need for whateverpurposes we decide, and no scientist is going to scare me intothinking otherwise.”

“This country was built on rocks,” he added. “Rememberthat.” Source: Theonion.com from May 1, 2010

Geologists theorize that areas like thismay have once been filled with rocks.


The Most Bizarre Christmas Gift We've EverSeenBy Jessica Mattern

Take a moment and think about the most peculiar holiday giftyou’ve ever received. Now with that in mind, we can say that theitem pictured above is probably even weirder.

Nordstrom is selling an $85 stone that can be used for avariety of purposes, according to the product description. The“one-of-a-kind” rock comes from the Los Angeles area and isdressed in a handmade leather sleeve.

“A paperweight? A conversation piece? A work of art? It’s upto you,” according to the retailer. “[It] is sure to draw attentionwherever it rests.” What’s more, there’s a smaller size available for$65 for, you know, the more budget-conscious shopper.

While we think it’s a ridiculous idea for a gift, that hasn’tstopped customers from having some fun by leaving cheekycomments in the review section. “It really is everything it claimsto be! I was astonished. In fact, I’ve never owned a rock that couldfunction better than this product,” wrote one person.

“This beautifully formed stone was obviously made with suchdetail and craftsmanship that the untrained eye would likelymistake it for a simple rock,” another wrote. “Brilliant!”

It may just be the perfect gift for the person in your life thatalready has everything.Source: Womensday.com from Dec. 6, 2016

GEM: The Definitive Visual GuideForeword by Aja Raden, N.Y: DK (Dorling Kindersley)Publishing/Smithsonian, 2016. 440 pp, color illus. Hardbound, $50.00

Book Review by Eric J. Hoffman and Elyse Zorn Karlin

Let’s cut right to the bottom line: if you have even theslightest interest in gems and jewels you need to add this gorgeous

book to your library. That said, this bookis difficult to review for it is reallyseveral books interleaved into one. Forthis reason two people are reviewing it... one reviewer who admires gems,another who loves historic jewelry.

The organization of the book isunusual, with an Introduction followedby sections on Native Elements,Gemstones, Organic Gems, and RockGems and Rocks. There follows a Color

Guide (loosely grouping minerals according to their color) and an80 page Mineral and Rock Directory (grouping them in standardgeologic order). There is also a glossary and—vitally important ina book like this—a comprehensive index.

The Introduction covers the basic definitions of rocks, gems,and “jewels” and is well illustrated (as is the entire book). Theirphysical and optical properties are covered as well as where theyare found, how they form, and what makes a stone a gem.

The Native Elements section covers gold, silver, platinum,copper and bronze, and diamond (representing carbon).Mineralogical information is interspersed with lavishly illustratedhistorical examples such as the Crown of Charlemagne and MarieAntoinette’s diamond earrings (now in the Smithsonian GemGallery).

The Gemstones section is by far the largest, comprising abouthalf the book. Here we find extensive treatments of more gemsthan you ever knew existed, all beautifully illustrated. All the“usual suspects” are there of course, but also such rare examplesas sphalerite, taaffeite, and pezzottaite. Again historical sidebarsappear throughout, featuring important jewelry set with gemstonessuch as the Danish Ruby Parure and the Topkapi Emerald Dagger,just to pick two examples. There are also brief treatments ofIndian, Byzantine, and ancient Egyptian jewelry.

Throughout the book are explanations of why one gemstoneexample is more valuable than another, although dollar values arenot discussed. The dangerous area of enhancements is also treated.

Gem was created in association with the SmithsonianInstitution and from the publishing information it appears that asubstantial team worked on it. The main contributors, however,appear to be Ronald Bonewitz and consultant Andrew Fellows ofthe British Gemmological Association. There is a foreword by AjaRaden who authored the book Stoned: Jewelry, Obsession, andHow Desire Shapes the World.

Gem combines expert knowledge with an almost uncountablenumber of lavish photographs from sources all over the world. Atonly $50 this huge book is not only a must-have for your referencelibrary or your coffee table, it is also perfect for gift-giving. —ejh

This book is a treasure trove of images and historicalinformation about a number of important jewels. It takes a littlebrowsing through to get the rhythm of how it is set up. For eachmaterial—metals or gemstones—the section begins with adescription of the physical properties and other pertinentinformation. In the pages that follow many examples of jewelsusing these materials are splashed across the page showing anarray of styles and time periods. Then finally, one very importantjewel is featured on a two page spread which has a picture of thejewel, related images— for example for Marie Antoinette’sdiamond earrings, a portrait of the queen, and a timeline with keydates in her history. At first glance this format seems as if materialis shown together without explanation, but after a thoughtful runthrough of the book it begins to make sense.

Overall, I found the book beautiful and enlightening. But I dohave a few small complaints. Some of the images are so oversizedthat there is no way to get a sense of the proportion of the jewel.They are shown seemingly without rhyme or reason for the sizingsave the spreads on a particular jewel. While those imagesprobably should be larger, they are still enormously oversized.This is probably a matter of personal taste as I have this discussionof how close to actual size to show jewels in books with otherjewelry historians often.

Also, there is no attribution with each of the hundreds ofimages of where the jewels reside or who owns them. This I feelis detrimental as we would all like to know what museum a pieceis in or whether it is in a private collection.

But the beauty of the book overrides these concerns and Iwould highly recommend this book—which is very affordable forits size and quality, for making a great connection betweengemstones and jewelry that feature these stones throughout history.—ezkSource: ASJRA Newsletter, Oct-Nov 2016


Philately: A Unique Teaching Device forNomenclature of MineralsBy Ajit V. Vartak and Rohit A. VartakJour. Geol. Soc. India, Vol.83, Jan. 2014

Knowledge of the mineral world began with the use ofstones by the early man. This formed the basis of mineralogy.The whole story of the ascent of man, from his first appearanceon this planet earth till today is linked with minerals and mineralsubstances. Thus, the names of minerals and their products havebeen used to label various eras of civilization such as the StoneAge, Bronze Age, Iron Age and the Nuclear Age. For most ofhuman history minerals have been part and parcel of our dailylife.

Many countries have exhibited their mineral wealth onpostal stamps. This has given rise to issuing of number of postalstamps on minerals, which makes the base of mineral philately.Although mineral philately in general received considerableattention of philatelists, its importance as a teaching tool, e.g., toexplain Nomenclature of Minerals is yet to be established.

The names of many minerals come to us from antiquity,especially those used by ancient people for some useful purpose.Most of the earlier mineral names were based on their physicalproperties like color, density etc. Later with the advancement ofscience, with the help of new technologies used in chemistry,many new elements were discovered. This led in naming manynew minerals. Now for every new mineral a researcher has tofollow a set of guidelines given by Commission on NewMinerals and Mineral Names (CNMMN) of the InternationalMineralogical Association (IMA).

Some early work on mineral nomenclature is done byRogers (1913), Mckinstry (1929). For detailed history ofnomenclature of minerals please refer J de Fourestier (2002) andRakovan (2007).

Names should serve two purposes, which are more or lessdistinctive, viz. convenience and accuracy. Many minerals arenamed after famous persons or persons who discovered oranalyzed it. Moreover, there are names of minerals that conveyinformation about the region where they have been found. Someare quite specific about the location. Some mineral namesconvey useful information about the mineral itself and are basedon the chemical composition, color, crystal form, hardness,luster or other properties. The vast majority of mineral namesend in ‘ite’, which is derived from the Greek word lithos (fromits adjectival form -ites), meaning rock or stone.Named after Person:1. Dolomite CaMg(CO3)2; (Fig. 1):Named after the French mineralogist, D. de Dolomieu. Acommon mineral found in sedimentary rocks.2. Prehnite Ca2Al2Si3O10(OH)2; (Fig. 2):The first mineral which is named after person is prehnite, whichin 1790 was named by Werner in honor of Colonel von Prehnwho found the mineral in Africa. Since then, the practice ofnaming minerals after people has become the most popular.3. Proustite Ag3AsS3; (Fig. 3):Named after J. L. Proust, a French chemist. Also referred to asruby silver ore and light red silver ore.4. Wulfenite PbMoO4; (Fig. 4):Named in honor of Freiherr von Franz Xavier Wulfen, anAustrian mineralogist.

Named after Place:1. Copper Cu; (Fig. 5):Named after the Greek word Kyprios which is the name of theisland of Cyprus, which once produced this metal. Also referredto as native copper. Usually found, in its natural state, coatedwith green, crusty, alteration products.2. Muscovite KAl2(AlSi3)O10(OH)2; (Fig. 6):Named after the Russian province of Muscovy. A member of theMica group of minerals. Muscovite has a layered structure thatallows it to be cleanly and evenly split into flat sheets. Thinsheets of muscovite are very flexible, but possess high tensilestrength. Isinglass refers to large sheets of muscovite that wereused as window panes.3. Tanzanite Ca2Al3(Si2O7)(SiO4)(O,OH)2; (Fig. 7): Named after Tanzania, a source of this gemstone. The blue, gemvariety of zoisite. A member of the epidote group of minerals.4. Zinnwaldite K(Al, Fe, Li)3(Al, Si)4 O10(OH)F; (Fig. 8):Named after Zinnwald, Bohemia, where it was found. A memberof the Mica group of minerals.Named after Chemical Composition:1. Calcite CaCO3; (Fig. 9):Named after the Greek word chalx which means “burnt lime”because of its chemical composition. A very common mineralwith many varieties. The variety Iceland spar exhibits theproperty of double refraction; that is, an image viewed througha rhomb of Iceland spar will appear doubled.2. Halite NaCl; (Fig. 10):Named after the Greek word “hals” which means “salt” becauseof its composition. One of the few minerals that provides benefitby direct human consumption. Halite, when placed in contactwith ice, lowers the ice’s melting point. This property isexploited in colder climates to melt ice from streets.3. Mesolite Na2Ca2Al6Si9O30 • 8(H2O); (Fig 11):[No text provided by the authors for this mineral for unknownreasons.–Editor]Named after Color:1. Beryl Be3Al2Si6O18; (Fig. 12):Named after the ancient Greek word beryllos which means “agreen stone”. Several varieties of beryl exist, which are basedupon the color of the material. The green variety of beryl isemerald; the greenish-blue, blue, and bluish-green variety isaquamarine; the pink to pale violet-pink variety is morganite;the yellow variety is heliodor; and the colorless variety isgoshenite2. Hematite Fe2O3; (Fig. 13):Named from the Greek word “haimetites” meaning “blood-like,”a reference to the color of the powdered mineral. Specularite orspecular hematite is a variety of hematite that exhibits a flaky orsparkling appearance. The variety tiger iron consists ofalternating layers of hematite, jasper, chert, and other quartzgroup of minerals. Kidney ore is a variety of hematite that occursin rounded mass. Hematite was the first mineral named with theuse of “ite” in the name.3. Rhodochrosite MnCO3; (Fig. 14):Named after the Greek words “rhodo” and “chrosis” whichmean “rose” and “colored” because of its color. A member of thecalcite group of minerals. Also referred to as manganese spar.An attractive, but non-durable, stone of limited usefulnessbecause it can be damaged easily.


1 - Dolomite, 2 - Prehnite, 3 - Proustite, 4 - Wulfenite, 5 - Copper, 6 -Muscovite, 7 - Tanzanite, 8 - Zinnwaldite, 9 - Calcite, 10 - Halite, 11 -Mesolite, 12 - Beryl, 13 - Hematite, 14 - Rhodochrosite, 15 - Epidote,16 - Monazite, 17 - Anatase, 18 - Diamond, 19 - Barite, 20 - Stilbite,21 - Orthoclase, 22 - Magnetite, 23 - Corundum, 24 - Opal.

Named after Form:1. Epidote Ca2Fe3+Al2(Si2O7)(SiO4)O(OH); (Fig. 15): Named after the Greek word “epidosis” which means “increase”because the base of an epidote crystal’s prism has one sidelonger than the other. Epidote is a common, rock-formingmineral. Pistacite is the pistachio-green variety of epidote.2. Monazite (Ce, La, Nd, Sm)PO4; (Fig. 16):Named from the Greek word “monazeis,” which means “to bealone” in reference to its isolated crystals. Monazite isradioactive and has been used in radioactive dating techniques.Monazite is a relatively hard, dense mineral which survivesweathering. As a result, monazite grains are a frequentconstituent of beach sands.Named after Other Physical Properties:1. Diamond C (hardness); (Fig. 18):Named after the Greek word adamas which means “invincible”because of its hardness. Pure carbon forms one of the softestminerals (graphite) and the hardest natural substance (diamond).Despite diamond’s unequaled hardness (resistance to scratching)diamond cleaves (breaks along flat planes) easily when strucksharply.2. Barite BaSO4 (specific gravity); (Fig. 19):Named after the Greek word barys which means “heavy”because of its high specific gravity. Also known as heavy spar.3. Stilbite (Na, Ca)3(Si, Al)18O36 • 12H2O (luster); (Fig. 20): Named after the German word “stilbein” which means “to shine”because of its brilliant luster. A member of the Zeolite group ofminerals. Also referred to as desmine.4. Orthoclase KAlSi3O8 (cleavage pattern); (Fig. 21):Named after the Greek words ortho and klao meaning “cleave”;because, the mineral cleaves at a 90° angle.5. Magnetite Fe3O4 (magnetism); (Fig. 22):Named for its strong magnetic property. Important ore of iron.Named after Sanskrit Words:1. Corundum Al2O3; (Fig. 23):Named after the Sanskrit word kuruvinda which means ‘ruby’.The blue and other color varieties of corundum are sapphire.The red variety is ruby. The colorless variety is leucosapphire.2. Opal SiO2 • nH2O; (Fig. 24)Named after Sanskrit word upala which means ‘gem’. A varietyof mineral quartz. Light, entering the opal, is refracted anddefracted by the water-filled voids producing the changingcolors for which precious opal is known.AcknowledgmentsThe authors thank Dr. Rakovan, Mr. Richard Busch and Dr. K.P .N. Kumaran for their thorough revision of the manuscript. Weare also thankful to the staff members of the Dept of Geologyand Petroleum Technology, Nowrosjee Wadia College, Pune fortheir continuous encouragement and to Mr. Kaustubh Mudgalfor his help in preparing the plate.ReferencesDe Fourestier, J. (2002) The nomenclature of mineral species

approved by the Commission on New Minerals and MineralNames of the International Mineralogical Association. Abrief history. Canadian Mineralogist, v.40, pp.1721-1735.

McKinstry, H.E. (1929) On naming minerals. AmericanMineralogist v.14, pp.179-199.

Rakovan, J. (2007) Words to the Wise More than 4000 to beexact. Rocks and Minerals, v.82/5, pp.423-424.

Rogers, A. F (1913) The nomenclature of minerals. Proc. of theAm. Philo., v.52/ 212, pp.606-615.


Film: A Glimpse into the Geology of “Star TrekBeyond”By Bethany Augliere

[Spoiler Alert: This review reveals key plot points of the movie.]

After a three-year wait by anxious fans, “Star Trek Beyond”hit theaters nationwide July 22. The third installment of the latestseries of “Star Trek” movies, directed by Justin Lin andco-written by Simon Pegg, features more than two hours ofaction, stunning scenery and witty banter among the USSEnterprise crew — plus a bit of geology.

The film begins with a slow pan across the Enterprisetraveling through space as James Kirk, played by Chris Pine,narrates an entry into the captain’s log. Despite his usual

self-assuredness, Kirk feelslost in his role as a Starfleetcaptain and disheartenedwith the “episodic” feelingof their mission. The crewis 966 days into a five-yearvoyage to explore spacewhen they stop at thei m p r e s s i v e f l o a t i n gstarbase, Yorktown, torestock their supplies.There, we learn that Spock,played by Zachary Quinto,is also considering leavingStarfleet and has ended hisrelationship with Lt. Uhura,played by Zoe Saldana.

But before they have achance to talk with oneanother, Kirk, Spock and

the rest of the crew are dispatched on a rescue mission toAltamid, a planet in an unexplored nebula nearby. A surpriseattack leaves the crew scattered and stranded in unfamiliarterritory. Not only are they lost to themselves, now they are lostto each other. The question is: Can they find their way back?

On Altamid, viewers get their first sense of the geology in“Star Trek Beyond.” The crew land on different parts of theplanet, where, along with the characters, the audience glimpsescraggy peaks, moss-covered boulders among towering trees, andgold-encrusted rocks. “I really liked all the visuals,” says KaylaIacovino, an avid “Star Trek” fan and volcanologist with theU.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park, Calif., who says sheplans to rewatch the film to ponder the hypothetical geologicprocesses that might have created the scenery.

Jessica Ball, a geologist also with the USGS in Menlo Park,Calif., also enjoyed the landscape, which reminded her of iconicTrek settings in other films. But she isn’t convinced by the goldrocks. “Those are visually very striking but not where you wouldfind gold in general,” she says, which is typically found incracks of pegmatite rocks. “You probably wouldn’t just find itspray-painted on the rocks,” she adds.

Another bit of geology that factors into the plotline in“Beyond” involves jewelry. Uhura wears a necklace — given toher by Spock and which belonged to his late mother — thatcontains a fragment of a radioactive mineral found only on his

home planet of Vulcan. “The idea that there is this one mineralthat you are only going to find on one planet is not all thatfar-fetched,” Ball says. “A lot of really rare minerals on Earth[are found only in] one locality or one mine.”

Overall, “Star Trek Beyond” is a fun summer blockbusterwith a rare combination of well-motivated characters (minus onebaddie) and action. Fans both old and new will likely enjoyseeing beloved characters return to the screen, reviving rivalriesand friendships — particularly the amiable sparring betweenSpock and Dr. McCoy, played by Karl Urban.

The weakest point of “Star Trek Beyond” may be theunderdeveloped and predictable villain, Krall, played by IdrisElba. At times, his speech is difficult to understand, and hismotivations — disappointingly similar to villains in previous"Star Trek" installments, Ball says — are unclear until the endof the film. Fortunately, another new character helps compensateand add depth to the story — Jaylah, played by Sofia Boutella.Jaylah meets Scotty, played by Simon Pegg, after the Enterprisecrashes on Altamid, becoming an ally in the crew’s fight againstKrall. Jaylah is resourceful, clever and brave. “I thought she wasfantastic,” Iacovino says. “I’m so happy the film has such astrong female role model.”

At its core, the “Star Trek” franchise, which is celebratingits 50th anniversary this year, is about exploration and thepursuit of learning to better mankind, Iacovino says. The film’sgeology may be minor, but it’s interesting. “’Star Trek" hasalways been really good at inspiring people to go into careers inSTEM [science, technology, engineering and mathematics],” shesays. “Hopefully, this one will do that too.”Source: Earth - November/December 2016

Donations Being Accepted for the

Annual NYMC Benefit AuctionWednesday Evening, June 14, 2017Minerals, Gems, Jewelry, Cabochons,

Meteorites, Lapidary Arts, Crystals,Magazines, Books, Ephemera, Fossils,

Posters, Prints, Equipment & etc.


Lab created diamond

Lab created diamond for processors

Topics in GemologyTopics in Gemology is a monthly column written by Diana Jarrett, GG, RMV, based on gemological questions posed toher over the years by beginners and experts alike. Contact her at [email protected].

Tech Savvy DiamondsOne of the byproducts of diamond’s extreme hardness – 10 on theMohs scale, is its durability and resistance to heat. Diamondmerchants know all this and more about the unique traits that makeup this one-element jewel. But outliers have never focused on anyexceptional characteristics of diamond, simply because they had noneed.

More than JewelryNow however, the remarkable property of diamond’s heatresistance is not lost on AKHAN Semiconductor, an Illinois basedtech hardware company. Diamonds, it turns out are so integral totheir product line that a diamond is prominently positioned on theirlogo. Their website’s landing page boldly proclaims “More thanjust jewelry” and then declares; AKHAN Semiconductor isushering in a new era of computing technology with diamonds.Taking the HeatThe company has discovered something most diamond expertshave always known. Diamond’s unique properties make it amarvel of nature on many levels. AKHAN found out thatdiamonds have a superior ability for heat transference plus they aremore efficient at retaining energy as contrasted to the currentprocessing chips made from silicon. On top of that, it turns out,diamond components outperform and outlast silicon chips. Heat isone of the big culprits that contributes to the short the life ofconsumer electronics. The diamond solution renders such devicesto be cooler to the touch too—nice to know when keeping thatmobile phone next to your face during long chats.Good for UsDiamond application in processors it appears, can run 5 timeshotter than the current iteration of silicon chips—and eliminate upto 90% of energy loss that typically occurs in the course ofelectron transfer. Another benefit of subbing out diamonds forsilicon is one of responsibility. Diamond’s environmental impactwill be ‘much less severe’ AKHAN reports. Carl Shurbof, Akhan’schief of operations AKHAN adds, “and we’re uniquely positionedto create a new ecosystem.” Certainly the strengths of this type of

venture lies in its empathy for green efforts. Shurboff reinforcesthat the environmental impact will be negligible. Its diamondsemiconductors require 20% less water to produce than silicon, thecompany disclosed. Such devices without heat sinks and fans nowmade possible by diamond chips will reduce the thermal materialsending up in landfills by roughly 85-90%.

AKHAN founder and chief executive Adam Khan, firstthought up the idea for diamond replacement of silicon inprocessors in 2007 when he began tracking the commercial use ofdiamond-based electronics. Khan’s top priority was to solve thetwo most imposing barriers to diamond mass production. Thesedifficulties were deposition, or the process successfully growing alayer of diamond on top a wafer-like base, and also in doping, orfine-tuning diamond’s electrical properties.Industrial ApplicationApplying lab created diamonds for industrial use is not original toAKHAN of course. But his specific use is quite genius and solvesmany problems arising with heat occurrence in electronics. Theap p l i c a t i o ns fo rdiamonds replacingtraditional silicon inelectronics includessmart devices for sure,but they also can bep l a c e d i nc o m p u t e r i z e dautomotive parts.D i a m o n d s ’ h e a ttolerance can boost thel i f e o f t h e s eapplications and mayeven reduce the cost ofelectronics. To beclear, for industrialq u a n t i t i e s , t h ediamonds earmarkedfor this use arelaboratory created.Natural Diamondsare Most-Wanted TooNatural earth mined diamonds have likewise been used in myriadother applications besides being the centerpiece of important bridaljewels. Diamond windows of thin diamond membranes are vitalfor covering openings in laser, x-ray machines, and vacuums.Their transparency, durability and heat resistance make them theonly suitable substance for such application. Speaker domes madefrom natural diamonds offer enhanced performance with highquality speakers. Unlike other materials, the tough quality ofdiamonds formed into thin domes allows for rapid vibrationswithout any deformation so sound quality remains high. Diamondhardness results in ideal application for wear resistance inindustrial parts that are normally prone to wear. Diamonds are alsoused in micro-bearings where extreme abrasion resistance anddurability are mandated.

Whether using natural earth formed diamonds or its labcreated counterpart, diamonds’ future is only as limited as theunfettered imagination of the next entrepreneur who dreams up onemore unexpected use for these one-element marvels.


The Economics of Tidying UpMonths after publication, Japanese home-organization guruMarie Kondo's book about de-cluttering has reached peakinterest. Behavioral science may explain the appeal.By Bourree Lam

“In this book, I have summed up how to put your space inorder in a way that will change your life forever.”

This is the ambitious first sentence of Marie Kondo’sbest-selling manifesto, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.Direct and devoid of clutter, this sentence rings true to herphilosophy. Unlike most self-help books, there are no extraneouswords, no pandering—the lack of “wink wink” gesturing readsas an appealing, authentic statement.

Though Kondo’s book was published in English in Octoberof last year, a search on Google Trends still puts interest in her

near an all-time high. (A searchfor her name in Japaneseproduces a similar result, thoughher book was originallypublished in 2010.) If Googlesearches are any indication,interest in tidying is also at anall-time high, and some of thisinterest must be attributed to therise in Kondo’s method—whichis to hold onto only items that“bring joy.” Following thepurge, Kondo provides cleardirections for how to store allyour belongings in a way thatmakes them easily accessibleand hard to mess up. A good

number of journalists swear by her methods, and effusivereferrals of “She changed my life” abound. During Kondo’sAMA on Reddit, one superfan asked her how to teach hermethod to children under 10.

In the introduction of her book (and several timesthroughout), Kondo quantifies the power of her advice—sheestimates that she’s helped her clients (a group that doesn’tinclude her countless readers) dispose of no fewer than a millionitems. This number is astonishing, but a key element of Kondo’sargument is that hardly anyone is aware of how many items heor she owns. Most wouldn’t even notice if some of those itemsare gone, she argues, but the problem is that throwing things outand putting belongings in the right place requires jumpingthrough some psychological hoops.

Why do people have so much trouble throwing things out?Turns out, the answer lies in people’s heads. Running throughKondo’s best advice and most of her book is the argument aboutthe anxiety-induced limits of human decision-making. Seeing asan entire branch of economics studies exactly that, it’s nowonder that economists have a particular interest in her advice.Financial Times columnist Tim Harford agrees that Kondo’smethods are not only intuitive, but compelling to economists.Harford says that the clutter that piles up in apartments is aproduct of people’s cognitive blunders.

In my reading and practice of the eponymous “KonMariMethod,” I found that Kondo does implicitly touch on someimportant behavioral economics concepts and cognitive biases

that prevent us from being tidy. She takes strong stances againstthese irrational mental habits that govern us. In other words, Ithink the reason Kondo-mania continues is because she hasactually hit upon some good solutions to deal with thesepervasive mental fallacies.

For example, Kondo aptly attacks what’s called thesunk-cost fallacy. The term “sunk cost” applies to payments (oftime or money) that have already occurred and thus can’t berecovered. The money’s spent, an investment has been made,and it makes people irrational because it seems a waste to notuse something that one has poured resources into. Theirrationality of this thinking is that people ignore whether anitem they own is still useful to them, and whether they’ll actuallyuse or resell it. In my tidying efforts, I find that the sunk-costfallacy hits harder for new items, because unused items retainmore value in resale. Kondo’s advice is to get rid of them, andher faith in keeping only the things that “bring us joy” addressesthe economic concept of opportunity cost: The mental andphysical toll of keeping an unused item around is greater thanthrowing it out.

Harford, the FT columnist, found that the KonMari Methodaddressed other economic concepts, such as the status-quo biasand diminishing returns. He writes: “Status quo bias means thatmost of your stuff stays because you can’t think of a good reasonto get rid of it. Kondo turns things around. For her, the statusquo is that every item you own will be thrown away unless youcan think of a compelling reason why it should stay.” I foundthat this new status quo was particularly helpful in discardingpaper, namely because I couldn’t find a compelling reason tohang onto all my credit card statements. They came in the mail,and I kept them just because that’s what I always did. Kondo’smethod sets a new status quo: throw them out. My boyfriend andI took this one step further, cancelling our paper statements forcredit cards and utilities.

I found it a bit harder to put Kondo’s wariness ofdiminishing returns—the idea that the more you have ofsomething, the less valuable each successive item is—intopractice. Perhaps it was because this most applies to the items Ihave the hardest time throwing out: clothes. Kondo’s method ofputting all of whatever-item-is-being-evaluated on the floor notonly overwhelmed me, but it also made me anxious. It remindedme that the reasons I have so much clothing are that firstly Iwant to be prepared in case I don’t have time for laundry in agiven week, and secondly that the neurological pleasure of cheapfashion is very scary and real. Because of my laundry concern,the idea of having three pairs of identical black work pantsseems pragmatic to me. (There’s another philosophy ofsimplicity, that of Matilda Kahl, that recommends wearing thesame thing to work every day.) I could see the diminishingreturns of having twenty T-shirts, so I discarded the ones thatdon’t fit.

Another important point that Kondo protects us from is thefolly of prediction: People systematically make terrible guessesabout the future. So instead, people should focus on the present,and in tidying, this manifests in the form of using present-dayvaluations of all of one’s belongings. People are wrong whenthey think that pair of jeans will ever fit again, Kondo is arguing.They're also wrong when they think they'll read that book again.These optimistic predictions keep people from getting rid ofthings they don’t need.


An artist's impression of the iron jet stream (black lines) within the liquid outercore, as detected by the three Swarm satellites.

Based on its magnetic properties, it is certain that the jet stream is made of liquidiron.

Another way of looking at this fallacy is as a form of lossaversion—that humans psychologically hate losing things. Notonly do people hate the idea of losing something that might beneed someday, but things seem valuable just because theybelong to us. In one famous study, economists DanielKahneman, Jack Knetsch, and Richard Thaler demonstrated witha coffee mug that people ascribe much higher value to thingsthey own, simply because they owned them. This means thatpeople might do well to take the KonMari method further, tothink hard before acquiring any new belongings. (And indeed,Kondo has advice on how to shop as well.)

At first I wasn’t able to stray too far from maintaining thenumber of items I originally owned—I initially stuck to my oldnotions of the status quo (behavioral economists would call thatanchoring). But Kondo does a convincing job of arguing howthrilling it is to discard items one doesn’t like, and it certainlyhelped me stop counting altogether.

Aside from economics, I also found two less-touted parts ofthe KonMari method very important in this process of purging.The first is keeping family away when tidying, as sentiment runshigh when a family member is around. The other is that theKonMari method should be executed in complete silence. Nomusic, no background movie or TV show. This makes theKonMari method both intense and a bit exhausting, but I havenever used my intellect so hard to fight myself in cleaning up myapartment—I’ve also never been as successful at it.

My biggest revelation came when I was cleaning mybookshelves: 20 percent of the books didn’t even belong to me.I realized that Kondo is right—it’s actually rare for anyone tonotice that something is gone. Cherished books belonging to oldroommates, college friends, my father, even an old boss—theirowners never got in touch with me, even as we’re moreconnected than ever.

A rational place to live doesn’t sound very sexy, but a tidyplace to live is indeed much more comfortable. And now tidyingcarries a point of pride beyond having a clean apartment:knowing that we’re outsmarting our cognitive biases.Source: www.theatlantic.com

There’s a Massive Metal Dragon Hiding InsideEarth’s Outer CoreBy Robin Andrews

There’s a monstrous iron serpent beneath our feet, hidingwith the planet’s liquid outer core. Traveling at around 50

kilometers (31 miles) per year, it is currently based in theNorthern Hemisphere and is currently moving westwards underAlaska and Siberia.

As announced at the annual gathering of the AmericanGeophysical Union (AGU) in San Francisco, it’s probably alsoaltering, and being driven by, the planet’s magnetic field.

Talking to BBC News, Dr Chris Finlay, a senior scientist atthe Technical University of Denmark, said that “this a verydense liquid metal, and it takes a huge amount of energy to movethis thing around.” As far as they can tell, this so-called jetstream probably has “the fastest motion we have anywherewithin the solid Earth.”

It was first detected by a triplet of satellites in the Swarmprogram, an initiative by the European Space Agency designedto map Earth’s magnetic field in unprecedented detail. Not onlyis it moving around the molten iron-nickel hellscape withconsiderable momentum, but according to the accompanyingNature Geoscience study, it is also accelerating.

Right now, it’s about 420 kilometers (261 miles) wide andit encircles about half the planet’s circumference. Between 2000and 2016, its amplitude – the height of its waves – hasmysteriously increased in length by about 40 kilometers (25miles) per year. It’s become so powerfully magnetic that it’seven influencing how the solid inner core is rotating.

It’s likely that the iron jet stream is wrapped around aboundary known as the “tangent cylinder”. This is aloosely-defined geometric structure that stretches from thegeographic North Pole to the South, and one that encompasses


Better than chicken nuggets. Luis Molinero

Chewy sandwich filling. Mansong Suttakam

the solid inner core. The team think that the stream is pulledaround by changes in the core’s magnetic field, like a bar magnetmoves a string of iron filings around on a table.

Even before the iron serpent was discovered, the liquid outercore was already an incredibly dynamic place. Found betweenthe partly molten, massive mantle above the inner core below,it’s roughly 2,300 kilometers (about 1,400 miles) thick and is aturbulent maelstrom of metallic currents.

Reaching temperatures of 7,730°C (13,940°F), the outercore is the heat engine that drives the mantle’s own massiveconvection currents, which in turn drive the motion of platetectonics further up. It also has a major role in generating Earth’smagnetosphere. Without the outer core, life as we know it wouldnot be possible.

There’s a lot about this all-important realm that we do notyet understand, and the dramatic reveal of the iron jet streamunderscores this beautifully. The metallic daisy-chain, with noclearly defined age or patterns of behavior, is a brand newenigma that raises more questions than it gives us answers.Source: IFLScience.com from December 20, 2016

What Happens If You Eat a Gold Pizza?Marie-Ann Ha

A restaurant in the New York financial district is offeringcustomers a pizza priced at US$2,000 (£1,623). It is topped withcaviar, stilton cheese and gold leaf, with each bite costing aroundUS$50.

New York is usually the kind of place that sets trends, butpizzerias elsewhere have actually been making pizzas sparkle fora while. A takeaway pizza chain in London started offering £500pizzas a year ago, this time with added lobster, caviar and truffleoil; while a Glasgow restaurant attracted attention by selling agold leaf pizza on eBay.

Gold on food goes back a good deal further than that,however. The renowned Italian chef, Gualtiero Marchesi, hasbeen topping his signature dish, risotto alla milanese, with asingle leaf of gold for decades. And that too is recent when youreflect that the kitchens of the wealthy were sprinkling theprecious metal on feast cuisine during medieval times.

There is a medieval liqueur still consumed today with goldflakes in it known as Goldwasser. Gold leaf is also used onchocolates and even has an E number (E175). Whatever else haschanged over the years, swallowing gold has always beenconsidered the highest form of decadence. But what happenswhen we put gold into the body? And are there any other metalswe’d be better off shaving on to pizzas instead?

Eat Your CaratsGold is an inert metal and is therefore not degraded by the

acid in our stomachs. It will travel the length of the intestinalsystem unchanged, passing out in your poo. Depending on thesewage treatment system, it will eventually be returned to theland or washed out to sea ready to be recycled again. It castspanning for gold in an entirely new light.

Other metals are generally not used for ostentatious displaysof edible wealth, but one exception is silver. Silver can be beateninto a leaf similar to gold and is also approved for use as anadditive (E174) – so long as it is pure and in its non-ionic form,which is the one that can’t be absorbed by the body.

Even then it is easier to add other metals to silver than gold,so there is still the risk it can be contaminated with the likes ofaluminum. This can reduce the body’s ability to absorb essentialminerals such as zinc, calcium and iron (aluminum is notessential). This will cause deficiency symptoms as diverse assoft bones (calcium), tiredness (iron) and lack of smell (zinc).

You might think these minerals might therefore be just thething for a pizza, so long as they are in the ionic form that thebody needs. We tend not to notice them in our diet but they areubiquitous in grains, fruit and vegetables as they are essential forplant growth, too. Meat and dairy products are particularly richsources and we have a very efficient system of absorbing theminerals they contain.


One reason we don’t see minerals grated on our foods, ofcourse, is that they don’t give the same bling value. But they willalso react with the acid in our stomachs and get absorbed, sincethey are not inert. Excessive amounts of minerals in the body canbe toxic, since they get laid down in soft tissues such as the brainand kidneys. This causes severe pain and eventually death.

In normal circumstances the body avoids such horrors byonly absorbing a percentage of the minerals in the foods we eat.But if you flood the system with a mineral by taking largequantities, it can cause an excessive intake. As well as thetoxicity risk, excessive intake of one essential mineral can makethe body struggle to properly absorb other essential minerals –the same risk as when you ingest non-essential minerals likealuminum.

The bottom line is about balance, as with most of nutrition.Since there’s plenty of these minerals in the foods we eat, there’sabsolutely no need and much potential harm to be had fromadding any extra to our meals – or from taking supplements wedon’t need.

Better to stick to gold, which does nothing good or bad forhealth except perhaps a feeling of satisfaction – or regret if yousee it twinkling as it disappears down the drain. And if you’vemore money than sense and you’re still hungry for more afterthat gold pizza, you could always ask your willing chef to throwin a few diamonds next time. They’re inert, too, albeit a littlecrunchy.Source: www.iflscience.com from January 10, 2017

Editor’s Note: I Americanized some of the spellings in thisarticle. Be aware that the author misuses the term inert. Goldand (later) diamonds may have low reactivity but they are farfrom inert, like the Noble Gases. There are certainly numerousgold compounds. And I would suggest you not put your diamondring over a flame as the pure carbon easily burns, becomingCO2!

I know her ending sentence about diamonds being“crunchy” if you eat them is facetiously said, but be aware onlydo this if you want to rip apart your entire digestive tract.

Lapidary Societies Attacked by InternetThievesBy Mark Nelson, BEAC Chair, AFMS

In the past two months it has been reported to me that lapidarysocieties across the country are being targeted by thieves. Thethieves seek those societies who have a web presence, look at theweb site to identify the president and treasurer and initiate falseemails seeking to steal society funds. Here is how they do this:

The thieves study the society’s website to identify the societypresident and treasurer and their email accounts. Then they craft anemail which masks the senders email, but lists the Sender (thesociety president) by name. The email is directed to the societytreasurer, mentions the treasurer by name, and directs the treasurerto send money to an individual or business in a hurry.One theft attempt went like this:

From: (President’s name)To: (Treasurer’s email)Subject: Need Check for VendorMessage: (Treasurer’s name), “Please send a check in the amountof $420 to this Vendor today . . .”, giving a name and address of asupposed vendor.

In this case, the treasurer did not recognize the vendor’sname. She called the president and questioned why the presidentwould request a check which had not been approved by theboard and which required two signatures to process. Thepresident had no idea that the scheme had been hatched, and theplot was foiled.

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In another instance the thieves sent an email to the treasurerof a lapidary society in just the same way. The email requestedthat a check in the amount of $980 be sent to a business at anaddress in another state. The email had the name of the presidentin the Sender’s box and the email of the treasurer in the “To”box. The treasurer responded, asking what the amount was for.The reply, supposedly from the president, was that it was forgraphic design services that he authorized and insisted that thecheck should be sent immediately and by express mail. A fakeinvoice was included in the reply email. The treasurer rushed thecheck to the post office. Later that same day the treasurerrealized that the email that showed in the reply to the “president”was different from what she had seen before in previous emailexchanges with the society president. She called the presidentand, upon learning that the request was a scam, was able to stoppayment on the check and reported it to her local policedepartment.

This shows that a group or groups of thieves are targetinglapidary clubs - probably other groups, as well. It is not difficult

for thieves to put a name in the email Sender box that isdesigned to gain our condense. We’ve seen this with emails frombanks, internet providers and even the IRS. Now we know thatthey are targeting lapidary societies. We should forward thisexample to our treasurers, presidents and boards of directors -and everyone who is or who might sign on our bank accountsnow or in the future - and make sure that the proper financialsafeguards are in place:

� Be sure that a treasurer knows who is making the request forpayment. In most email providers such as AOL, if you clickon the name of the person sending the email an emailaddress will appear.

� Immediately question any payment to a person or businesswho is unfamiliar to the treasurer.

� Make sure that all requests for payments are accompaniedby an invoice that can be verified.

� Verify that the expense requested by the email is covered bythe budget and is from a known vendor (expected) or hasprevious specific board approval.

� Have all checks signed by two of the top elected executiveswho should also ask these questions.

� When in doubt, pick up the phone and talk to the personrequesting the check.

If you have an example to report, please email the details tome so that the AFMS can be aware of it. You need not list yoursociety, but give us the federation you belong

Source: A.F.M.S. Newsletter February 2017


2017 Club Calendar

Date Event Location Remarks & Information

Third Wednesday!April 19

Meeting at 6:30 Watson Hotel, ManhattanSpecial Lecture: Charles Snider (1st Timer!) –“The American Geode Story”

May 10 Meeting at 6:30 Watson Hotel, ManhattanSpecial Lecture: John Sanfaçon –“Russian Mineralogy & More”

June 14 Annual Benefit Auction Watson Hotel, Manhattan Details to follow; Online catalog available!

July 12 Meeting at 6:30 Watson Hotel, ManhattanSpecial Lecture: Anna Schumate & NaomiSarna – “Phenomenal Gemstones”

July ?? Officer’s Planning Meeting Upper West Side, NYC2017 Banquet Planning; Club 2018 Calendar;Overall Theme: Leveling Up!

August ?? Open House (Party!!) Long Island, NY - C. Neary Home Details to Follow

September 13 Meeting at 6:30 Watson Hotel, Manhattan TBD

Third Wednesday!October 18

Annual Gala BanquetMezzanine, Watson Hotel,Manhattan

Theme: Amethyst; Lecture; Silent Auction;Awards; Amethyst Game; Gifts & Surprises!

2017 Show or Event Calendar

Date Event Location Remarks & Information

April 1-2North Jersey Gem, Mineral& Fossil Show

Midland Park High School,Midland Park, New Jersey

Host: North Jersey Mineralogical Society;Website for Info: nojms.webs.com

April 7-9NJ/NY Mineral, Jewelry,Gem & Fossil Show

NJ Expo Center,Edison, New Jersey

$15.00 Admission (good for 3 days);Exhibits, Fossil Identification

April 20-23Rochester MineralogicalSymposium

Radisson Hotel RochesterAirport, Rochester, New York

Lectures, Dealers, Exhibits, Silent Auction,Banquet, Voice Auction, etc.

April 29-30 NJESA Show & Swap Franklin School, Franklin, NJ Info: [email protected]

May 20-21Southern Vermont Mineral,Rock & Gem Show

Grace Christian School,Bennington, Vermont

For info: Bill Cotrofeld 802-375-6782

June 3-4Annual Mineral, Jewelry,Gem, & Fossil Show

Museum Village, Monroe,Orange County, New York

Sponsor: Orange County Mineral SocietyFull Mastodon Skeleton on View!

June 3 Spring MineralfestMacungie Memorial Park,Macungie, Pennsylvania

Sponsor: Pennsylvania Earth SciencesAssociation; Info: www.mineralfest.com

June 9-11 AFMS Convention/Show Ventura, California Article Contest Results; Details to Follow

August 11-13East Coast Gem, Mineral &Fossil Show

West Springfield, MassachusettsOver 200 dealers, huge show, relatively easytrain or bus access

October 20-22 EFMLS Convention/Show Bristol, Connecticut Article Contest Results; Details to Follow

November 11-12Fall NYC Gem, Mineral &Fossil Show

Grand Ballroom, Watson Hotel(Holiday Inn), New York City

25+ diverse dealers; lectures; wholesalesection (with credentials); NYMC Booth

For more extensive national and regional show information check online:AFMS Website: http://www.amfed.org and/or the EFMLS Website: http://www.amfed.org/efmls

George F. KunzFounder

The New York Mineralogical Club, Inc.Founded in 1886 for the purpose of increasing interest in the science of mineralogy through

the collecting, describing and displaying of minerals and associated gemstones.

Website: www.newyorkmineralogicalclub.orgP.O. Box 77, Planetarium Station, New York City, New York, 10024-0077

2017 Executive Committee

President Mitchell Portnoy 46 W. 83rd Street #2E, NYC, NY, 10024-5203 email: [email protected]. . . . . . . . . . . . (212) 580-1343

Vice President Anna Schumate 27 E. 13th Street, Apt. 5F, NYC, NY, 10003 email: [email protected] . . (646) 737-3776

Secretary Vivien Gornitz 101 W. 81st Street #621, NYC, NY, 10024 email: [email protected] . . . . . . . . . . . (212) 874-0525

Treasurer Diane Beckman 265 Cabrini Blvd. #2B, NYC, NY, 10040 email: [email protected] . . . . . . . . . . . (212) 927-3355

Editor & Archivist Mitchell Portnoy 46 W. 83rd Street #2E, NYC, NY, 10024-5203 email: [email protected]. . . . . . . . . . . . (212) 580-1343

Membership Mark Kucera 25 Cricklewood Road S., Yonkers, NY, 10704 email: [email protected]. . . . . . (914) 423-8360

Webmaster Joseph Krabak (Intentionally left blank) email: [email protected]

Director Alla Priceman 84 Lookout Circle, Larchmont, NY, 10538 email: [email protected] . . . . . . . . . (914) 834-6792

Director Richard Rossi 6732 Ridge Boulevard, Brooklyn, NY, 11220 email: [email protected] . . . . . . . . . . (718) 745-1876

Director Sam Waldman 2801 Emmons Ave, #1B, Brooklyn, NY, 11235 email: [email protected] . . . . . . . . (718) 332-0764

Dues: $25 Individual, $35 Family per calendar year. Meetings: 2nd Wednesday of every month (except August) at the Watson Hotel (formerly Holiday Inn MidtownManhattan), 57th Street between Ninth and Tenth Avenues, New York City, New York. Meetings will generally be held in one of the conference rooms on the MezzanineLevel. The doors open at 5:30 P.M. and the meeting starts at 6:45 P.M. (Please watch for any announced time / date changes.) This bulletin is published monthly by theNew York Mineralogical Club, Inc. The submission deadline for each month’s bulletin is the 20th of the preceding month. You may reprint articles or quote from this bulletinfor non-profit usage only provided credit is given to the New York Mineralogical Club and permission is obtained from the author and/or Editor. The Editor and the NewYork Mineralogical Club are not responsible for the accuracy or authenticity of information or information in articles accepted for publication, nor are the expressed opinionsnecessarily those of the officers of the New York Mineralogical Club, Inc.

Next Meeting: Wednesday Evening, April 19, 2017 from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm

Mezzanine, Watson Hotel (formerly Holiday Inn), 57th St. & Tenth Avenue, New York CitySpecial Lecture: Charles Snider – “The American Geode Story”

New York Mineralogical Club, Inc.Mitchell Portnoy, Bulletin EditorP.O. Box 77, Planetarium StationNew York City, New York 10024-0077

FIRST CLASS

Mitch Portnoy

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